Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Another State of Mind

I finally got my hands on a copy of Another State of Mind this past weekend; the documentary from 1984, following the BYO tour of Youth Brigade and Social Distortion. I thought it was really well done, at least better than I expected. However, Mike Ness, though I will always remain a faithful Social D fan, can be such a dick. It's really obvious watching him on the screen that all he really wanted was to be a rock star. Well good for him, because he's finally achieved it. I don't think that his intentions were ever truly "DIY" or "Dischord-esque punk rock," but the guy knew what he wanted and he got it. Bravo. The visit to DC and to Minor Threat shows were priceless. At one point before the Threat got on stage a couple of mics got broken so the PA people gathered up their equipment and left the show, and the kids without a PA. So what did Ian and the gang do?, they played without it. The video showed a breathtaking rendition of the song "Minor Threat," with the crowd simply screaming the lyrics so loudly no PA was even needed in the first place.It reminded me alot of an American Nightmare show from around 2000/2001 at Skatefest in Worcester, upstairs at the Palladium, when the power went out halfway through, "There's a Black Hole In the Shadow of the Pru," and despite the silence from the guitars and mic, the drums kept going and every kid in the room finished the song word for word. I remember those 40/50 seconds being one of those defining "punk rock" moments of my life. One of the realizations of, "this is my home and always will be," and other such cliched thoughts. Those were great years indeed. You could literally feel it in the air that something special was happening for those two summers. Such great bands emerged from Boston that literally changed the landscape of hardcore/punk not only in New England, but throughout the world. American Nightmare, Panic, The Hope Conspiracy, Shark Attack, Carry On...the list goes on and on. And the bands that already had been around a long time were seeming to re-emerge and re-establish themselves with a new generation of punk kids: Bane, Reach the Sky, Converge. Those were the days. I feel as if hardcore/punk lost something after that period of time that it still lacks. It doesn't feel like the same community. So many more tough guys now, less acceptance. I don't know...I'm just rambling. But regardless, I'll never say "goodbye" to hardcore/punk no matter how old I get. Maybe I won't always listen to it nonstop, but the spirit and philosophy will always remain. You won't find that in any other music sub-culture.

In other thoughts, I ate lunch from the La Salle Union this afternoon: two grilled cheeses and fries. I honestly wanna puke. How can people fuck up food so badly? I just don't get it.